The present invention generally relates to electrical connectors and in particular to connector modules that can be readily incorporated into electronic devices and docking stations.
A wide variety of electronic devices are available for consumers today. Many of these devices have connectors that facilitate communication with and/or charging of a corresponding device. Typically these connectors are part of a male plug connector and female receptacle connector system in which the plug connector can be inserted into and mated with the receptacle connector so that digital and analog signals can be transferred between the contacts in each connector. More often than not, the female connector in the connector system is included in a host electronic device such as a portable media player, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer or the like. The plug connector in the connector system is often included in an accessory device such as a charging cable, a docking station, an audio sound system or the like. In some instances, however, devices, for example cable adapters, include both receptacle and plug connectors. Also, in some instances, the plug connector/receptacle connector pairing can be part of a large ecosystem of products that includes both host electronic devices and accessory devices designed to work together. Thus, the same general format plug connector can be incorporated into many different accessories, which in turn can be designed to operate with multiple different host devices that include the corresponding receptacle connector.